Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Tony Award-winning satirical hit was one of last year’s most highly-anticipated arrivals. The public soon fell under its unashamedly offensive spell, discovering a warm heart at its centre and a catchy – albeit filthy – score to boot.

A huge Book of Mormon thank you to our October audiences who kindly donated a recording-breaking £45,930.42 to Acting for Others. This is an annual initiative which seeks to raise funds on behalf of The Combined Theatrical Charities Appeals Council.

For several years now, I have followed the career of two young American gentlemen with great interest. I first spotted their talent when I saw a film entitled Cannibal The Musical, which I gather was some sort of student project charting the life of a 19th century American prospector who was convicted of cannibalism…

Sets a new standard for the 21st century Broadway musical," yells Entertainment Weekly. "The best musical of this century,” nods the New York Times. "So f**king good it makes me angry," adds ’The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart - these are no single adjectives plucked from the pages of little-known blogs but gushing praise from some of most respected critics in America.

Evening StandardThe Year of the Musical shows our West End is still on songMar 15 2013

Slickly commercial song and dance productions like The Book of Mormon become indispensable experiences. Of the behemoths swaggering into view, none promises to be bigger than The Book of Mormon. There’s a palpable buzz about this viciously funny musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

TatlerCelebrities join fans at The Book of Mormon Comic Relief galaMar 14 2013

Paul McCartney, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton, Simon Cowell, Tim Minchin, Kate Moss and David Walliams were just some of the celebrities who, along with the producers who donated the evening’s box office takings and Mormon Facebook fans who won tickets to attend, helped raise almost £200,000 for Comic Relief at a gala performance of The Book of Mormon.

The show is bringing new audiences to theatre. Speaking to The Stage, Jared Gertner says the show has helped in “expanding” theatre’s audiences, mainly because of the following its writers – South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone – have.

As the wildly acclaimed Broadway musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone has its first performance in London, here are 13 points which should enable you to work out just how Mormon you are!

You can accuse Trey Parker and Matt Stone of many things, but pulling punches isn’t one of them. From their first film in 1993, Cannibal! The Musical, to South Park and Team America: World Police, they’ve made an art form of offensive humour. And now British fans can witness this art form up close, as the pair’s revered stage musical The Book Of Mormon transfers from Broadway to London.

Mormonism is everywhere at the moment, thanks in part to The Book Of Mormon, the stratospherically successful and bitingly satirical Broadway musical masterminded by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The Mormon faith has been plagued by stereotyping for decades. Lizzie Pook investigates one of the world’s fastest growing religions…

It was hailed in America as the “best musical of this century” and “the funniest musical of all time”. Now British audiences will get a chance to see what all the fuss is about as the multi-Tony-award winning The Book of Mormon finally arrives in the West End this month.

I watched Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner rehearse a couple of numbers with the company of The Book Of Mormon and , wow, they would have blown the sockets if they’d have continued. Everyone without a ticket should pray, and then some, that a few will be returned to the box office.

Sonia Friedman is currently in the process of opening two strikingly different shows in London’s West End: Harold Pinter’s enigmatic three-hander play Old Times and British premiere of the joyously irreverent Broadway musical The Book of Mormon…

TelegraphHundreds of fans line up as £20 tickets are released for the first preview.Feb 08 2013

South Park resident Leah Winkler has spent 14 hours camping outside London’s Prince of Wales theatre in Piccadilly. She may be a long way from her Colorado home, but she cites it as the reason behind her place in the queue for Book of Mormon tickets.

The Book of Mormon has published full details of the ticket lottery that offers theatregoers the opportunity to buy 21 top-price tickets for £20 at every performance. The lottery regularly attracts large crowds of South Park and Mormon fans on Broadway and around the U.S. everywhere The Book of Mormon is playing and is launched in London to give daily access to a limited number of tickets to those who have been unable to book in advance. "We know how hard it’s been for some people to get tickets." said Trey Parker. "The lottery helps us give our fans a fighting chance at seeing the show." Entries to the lottery will be accepted in person at the Box Office two and a half hours prior to each performance. Names will be drawn at random two hours before each performance. Only one entry per person is allowed for a maximum of two tickets and winners must be present at the time of drawing and show valid ID to purchase tickets.

Joseph Smith Jr, the American who founded Mormonism, was a man who saw and foresaw much. He saw that the Lord wanted him as his prophet. And he saw that the Lord wished to allow him many wives (“if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another… then is he justified,” he wrote). And, in an unusual diversion by the Almighty into real estate, Smith saw He wished Smith to have a splendid house (“And now I say unto you… let it be a delightful habitation”).

The Book of Mormon, a musical by the creators of South Park, has sold out part of its West End run despite its unfamiliar subject matter. Seven weeks before it opens for previews in the West End, the musical The Book of Mormon is proving to be something of a miracle (which, perhaps, is not entirely surprising for a show about people who wear sacred undergarments, and believe that Christ’s Second Coming will start in the United States).

Chicago Sunday TimesGetting Religion by the Neck in a Hilarious THE BOOK OF MORMONDec 19 2012

Most of the audience flocking to THE BOOK OF MORMON, which officially descended on Chicago Wednesday night like satirical manna from some warped South Park heaven, are looking for amusement and escape. They’ll surely find salvation from the rough old world in this new production of the deliciously over-eager 2011 Broadway hit, newly crafted for Chicago with a clutch of utterly committed, fresh-faced, faux-Mormon lads.

Tickets will go on public sale for the West End production of The Book of Mormon on 23 September 2012. Preview performances will begin at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 25 February 2013, with the official opening night on 21 March. Casting will be announced shortly. The Book of Mormon will offer a limited number of top-price stalls tickets at £20 for each performance. These seats will be available through The Book of Mormon lottery. Entries to the lottery will be accepted in person at the Box Office two and a half hours prior to each performance. Names will be drawn at random two hours before each performance. The Book of Mormon is produced in the West End by Anne Garefino, Scott Rudin, Important Musicals and Sonia Friedman Productions.

Broadway’s biggest hit show, The Book Of Mormon, has its roots firmly in British humour, according to its creators. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the men behind Mormon and also South Park (now in its 16th season), will be in London towards the end of the month to do further casting on the outrageous musical they collaborated on with Robert Lopez.

What the critics said about the Broadway Show

MISSIONARY MEN WITH CONFIDENCE IN SUNSHINE

The best musical of this century. So impeccably produced on every level. Heaven on Broadway. The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle. All the folks involved in Mormon prove themselves worthy, dues-paying members of the church of Broadway. A celebration of the privilege, for just a couple of hours, of living inside that improbable paradise called a musical comedy.

The perfect Broadway musical. Behold The Book of Mormon. An exhilarating Broadway musical at once revolutionary and classic, hilarious and humane, funny and obscene, uncompromising in production standards and unafraid of just about anything. This is what 21st century Broadway can be. If Broadway has the balls. Lord knows, The Book of Mormon does. I’m sold; I believe in The Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon manages to offend, provoke laughter, trigger eye-rolling, satirize conventions and warm hearts, all at the same time. Inventive and subversive. A tight, visually popping, roof-raising show. Amen to that. Consider us converted.

WITH JESUS ON THEIR SIDE: THE BOOK OF MORMON RESURRECTS THE BALLS-OUT BROADWAY MUSICAL

After Mormon, I like to imagine, the Broadway musical might be free to be a Broadway musical again. Enough comedic force to prolapse the average diaphragm. Astonishingly good. The Book of Mormon resurrects the balls-out Broadway musical.

The Book of Mormon. A fiendishly well-crafted, hilariously smart - or maybe smartly hilarious - song-and-dance extravaganza. The show’s a hoot. The show’s a hit. A full-blooded tuner that rejuvenates musicals while displaying a genuine love for the form. An avalanche of filthy gags, butt jokes and wickedly catchy show tunes. Each time you think they can’t possibly top a particularly crazed moment, 10 more follow. By the time The Book of Mormon ends in an orgy of over-the-top cheer, you just can’t wait to get on that ride all over again.

Matt and Trey: Where have you been all my life? A pricelessly entertaining act of musical-comedy subversion. The mighty O’Neill himself would have to have given it up for this extraordinarily well-crafted musical assault on all things holy. A marvel. One of the most joyous bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years. Approach the altar of Parker, Stone, and Lopez.

‘THE BOOK OF MORMON’ ON BROADWAY: MORMONS, MISSIONARIES AND MUSIC FROM ‘SOUTH PARK’ TEAM

The Book of Mormon surely goes further than any other musical in Broadway history. Shrewd, hilariously profane, remarkably well-crafted and wholly hilarious. A night more emotional than many will expect.

The Book of Mormon has the propulsive verve of a runaway hit. Boisterously outrageous. It’s hard to imagine anyone topping the ding-dong hilarity set off by The Book of Mormon. It has all the fearlessness one would expect. Sacred cows, let’s just say, are there for the riotous milking. But for all its irreverence, The Book of Mormon has the old-fashioned musical comedy heart of adults who spent much of their adolescence lip-syncing to original cast albums in their finished basements. Nothing is off limits. The farcical stampede is unstoppable. It’s not easy to shock a modern-day audience, but The Book of Mormon succeeds with alarming regularity.

The shocking thing about The Book of Mormon is that after all the production numbers that make searing fun of Mormonism, African culture, AIDS, terror, mainline religion and every Western creation myth -- after all of that, the show ends up an unbridled celebration of faith. The show is a hoot -- and a guilty pleasure. All the time, though, Mormon is coming full circle. The Book of Mormon is a triumph – that’s not too strong a word: For all its outrageous mockery, the show encourages you appreciate whatever creation story gives you comfort and allows you to appropriate mystery. The ultimate feel-good musical.

A hilarious musical. The Book of Mormon is gleefully funny. It seldom goes more than 10 seconds without a big laugh. And it’s not just about the jokes. They’re embedded in a satisfying story, supported by witty, character-relevant songs. Most important for its overall success, the show’s creators understand that even a satirical musical needs to have characters you can care about. Mormon is that rare creature that isn’t based on a book or a play or a movie – it came totally out of its creators’ heads. And what they thought up is one of the most purely enjoyable musicals in years.

THE BOOK OF MORMON: THE SOUTH PARK GUYS SEND US TO MUSICAL-COMEDY HEAVEN WITH THIS RELIGIOUS SATIRE

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The season’s best musical. Musical-comedy heaven. Viciously hilarious. You laugh your head off. The Book of Mormon is a mystic revelation, the most exuberantly entertaining Broadway musical in years.

The Book of Mormon is something just spectacular. Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Bobby Lopez just gave oxygen to Broadway. The kind of Broadway experience we haven’t had in years. New, exciting, chance-taking, funny, inappropriate, filthy, beautifully staged, a great brilliant romp of a musical. It’s hysterical. It’s hysterical. You will not believe how great this cast is. So funny, we almost fell out of our seats. I couldn’t even go to sleep last night cause I kept thinking of this stuff.

A classic. The show’s delightful contradictions extend to its craftsmanship. In terms of construction and song placement, Mormon masters a classic formula. Number after number hits a bulls-eye. One of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. Hugely entertaining. Explosive laughs. The Book of Mormon is irresistible.

A production as lustrous as the golden statue of the angel Moroni that rotates atop the proscenium. A raucously funny new show. Every song enhances the hilarity, expert staging heightens every gag, and the cast of fresh faces is blissfully good. A show that never quits. The Book of Mormon approaches musical-comedy Rapture.

An inspired collaboration made in theatre heaven. Brilliantly original, hysterically funny and tunefully irresistible. Rarely has a show come along as consummately crafted as The Book of Mormon. The show achieves the near impossible.

Messrs. Parker, Lopez and Stone’s tuneful score is memorable and hummable, show music that tells stories, deepens characters and gets laughs. So this is the lesson of The Book of Mormon: the elusive trick to succeeding on Broadway today is to write a smart, funny, sweet show, insert tuneful songs and a talented cast and give it a great staging. Subversive, ain’t it?

Screamingly funny yet sharply insightful. Blisteringly boisterous. A barbed-wired-laced Broadway bombshell. Nothing short of miraculous. A rarity on Broadway these days. The whole company is perfectly in synch with the insanity.